Potentially big spoilers follow for Deadpool and Wolverine.
We're less than a week away (at the time of writing) from Deadpool and Wolverine debuting in theaters, but Marvel can't stop spoiling some of the movie's big cameos.
Indeed, with the Marvel Phase 5 movie set to arrive in theaters on July 25 (internationally) and July 26 (US), the comic giant has ratcheted up the hype among its fanbase by releasing yet another new trailer. The two-minute long, poignancy-laced teaser, which you can watch below, contains plenty of new footage to pore over, but it's the confirmation of another big character reveal that will dominate discussions in the immediate aftermath of said teaser's release.
I cannot stress this enough, dear reader: potentially major cast spoilers follow from this point on.
Yep, that's none other than Dafne Keen, who played X-23, aka Laura, aka Wolverine's "daughter". Technically, she's his clone, but let's not overcomplicate things here. Anyway, she starred in Logan, the 2017 X-Men movie that was supposed to be the swansong of Hugh Jackman, who had played the adamantium-clawed mutant for 17 years up to that point.
If you want a specific timestamp (down to the very second) for where Keen appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movie's final trailer, you can see her at the 1:29 mark. She can be seen responding to Jackman's Wolverine, who tells her around a campfire that "whoever you think I am, you've got the wrong guy" – to which Keen's X-23 responds: "You were always the wrong guy, until you weren't". [Update: in conversation with Entertainment Weekly post-trailer release, Keen alluded to the prospect that her role will be more substantial than just a cameo, adding: "The first thing I did for Deadpool was stunt training before I shot anything. I put on the costume and was like, 'Oh! She's back'". It sounds like Keen, then, could be involved in a fight sequence or two as well.]
Now, I know what you're thinking: "Tom, why don't you just not watch said trailer if you don't want anything ruined before you see the film?". It's a fair question but, given that it's my job to cover such reveals, it's extremely difficult to avoid spoilers like this. I know, woe is me and all that.
Still, it would be nice if Marvel stopped revealing who'll show up in Deadpool and Wolverine now. Sure, the fact that they're confirming Keen's appearance must mean there are even bigger character surprises in store, but I can't help but wish Marvel would rein it in and, I don't know, just let us enjoy each and every crowd-pleasing cameo on the biggest screen possible. We're only seven days out from one of 2024's most anticipated new movies landing in cinemas, after all – so, please Marvel, stop with the spoilers, ya hear?
Keen to throw fans off the scent
What makes Keen's appearance so interesting is a two-fold discussion. Firstly, Keen, who fans may also recognize from Star Wars: The Acolyte, which recently ended its eight-episode run on Disney Plus, previously played down suggestions that she'd appear in Deadpool and Wolverine.
Speaking to On Demand Entertainment as recently as June 1, Keen said of her potential appearance in the film: "It's sad. I love Hugh Jackman [and] Ryan Reynolds is a legend. It would've been amazing to be a part of it". Clearly, the His Dark Materials alumnus is a better liar than Spider-Man actor Andrew Garfield, who struggled to convince people he wouldn't appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home ahead of its December 2021 release.
Perhaps of more intrigue, though, is whether Keen is playing the same Laura/X-23 we last saw in Logan. With Deadpool 3 being another of Marvel's multiversal movies, there's clearly scope for this version of the character to, just as the titular duo are expected to do throughout the film's runtime, cross over into the MCU. However, it's also possible that Keen is playing a variant of Logan's X-23 – perhaps one who already exists in the MCU (or even this Wolverine's own world) and is drafted in to give him a much-needed pep talk to convince the iconic X-Men member to help Deadpool save his own universe.
Regardless, Keen's cameo in Deadpool and Wolverine is just the latest one that Marvel has confirmed ahead of the flick's impending release. In late June, another new trailer teased an X-Men movie rematch that fans have waited 24 years for. In fact, the entertainment behemoth has spent the last few weeks and months teasing other cameos, including numerous Deadpool variants (Lady Deadpool, Dogpool, and Cowboy Deadpool among them), as well as the return of villains from many other X-Men films, such as Toad and Lady Deathstrike, and the odd Wolverine variant or three. You can read more about those cast inclusions in our article breaking down Deadpool and Wolverine's first trailer and Deadpool 3's Easter egg-laden second teaser.